Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl
by xMeme
Summary: Everyone expected them to get together by the time they were 15.But he was Ryoma and she was Sakuno. They were never the type to follow expectations. They just did not operate that way.


**Tennis no Oujisama **(c) Konomi Takeshi/ WJ/ Shueisha

Written for Sakuno's birthday. Based from a song by Loney, Dear. Just an attempt to get my RyoSaku muse working again. :)

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><p><strong>Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl<strong>

Everyone expected them to get together by the time they were fifteen. After all, it was fairly obvious to everyone that she liked him (those daily lunch boxes had to mean something!) and that he liked at her (surely, he didn't come to her rescue every time just because he was bored or was feeling altruistic.). How else should their story end?

But when Sakuno was fifteen, she stopped giving Ryoma his daily lunches and started going out with a boy from the photography club, a handsome young man named Ichiro. A month later, Ryoma dated one of Sakuno's friends from the tennis club. It boggled everyone else how they could date people other than themselves.

But he was Ryoma and she was Sakuno. They were never the type to follow conventions—or expectations. They just did not operate that way.

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><p>Sakuno had no doubt in her mind that she liked Ichiro. He was nice, he was polite and he treated her right. What's not to like?<p>

Yet, Ichiro still could not make her heart flutter the way a certain Tennis Prince did (and still does!). What was wrong with her anyway? Here she had a boy who liked her but she was still pining over someone who'd never reciprocate her feelings in the manner she wanted.

It made her quite guilty, using Ichiro to forget Ryoma and her stupid feelings. A good guy like him deserved better and more. But she was desperate. She needed to get Ryoma out of her system or else he'd stay there forever and she'd be forever hurting. Call her selfish for thinking about herself for once; she didn't care.

She'd learn to love Ichiro in the same degree. She'd learn to forget Ryoma. It was bound to happen.

Eventually.

It was just a matter of avoidance.

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><p>The disadvantage of having their shoe lockers right next to each other was that even if they tried to avoid each other for the entire year, there still stood the probability that they'd find themselves in the same place at the same time.<p>

Of course, neither Ryoma nor Sakuno would admit that they were indeed avoiding each other. The idea was ridiculous. They were just busy, that's all and the timing was never right.

"Hey…"

"Hi…"

"It's been a while."

"Yes, it is."

And then there was silence, followed by an air of awkwardness. Sakuno wanted to ask him a lot of questions. How are you? Are you happy? Did you miss me the way that I missed you? But she kept these thoughts to herself and all she managed to say was, "I heard from Tomo-chan that you won yesterday. Congratulations." She smiled as naturally as she could. Ryoma replied with a blank stare.

"You did not see the match."

Sakuno could have sworn that he sounded upset and/or hurt. But it might just have been her imagination. Her brain had this awful habit of making her think of things that weren't there.

"Ichiro needed help in his project so…"

"Ah." Ryoma nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"That's fine, Ryuuzaki."

But it wasn't; he wasn't. He couldn't grasp Why she would miss his game for some project that Ichiro guy had. Surely, it wasn't that important? Then Ryoma silently chastised himself for being silly. Of course, she'd choose Ichiro over him. It wasn't even up for debate.

"I have another game on Friday," he declared casually.

It was an invitation, a plea._ Come and see me,please_.

"Really? Good luck then." She wanted to tell him 'I'll be there, just like the old times', but saying that would be a lie. She didn't want to lie—or at least, not to him anyway.

If Ryoma was disappointed (He couldn't possibly be, could he? ), he was quite good in masking it. "Ah, thanks."

They stared at each other silently, a thousand and one things were running inside their heads; a thousand and one things they wanted to say but wouldn't. Couldn't.

Ryoma eventually broke the silence. "I have to go."

"Me too. I have to meet—" Sakuno stopped herself from continuing. "Uh, I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see you."

They set off in opposite directions.

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><p>Ichiro could not help but notice that she was distracted. Not that she did a great job in hiding it, with her glancing at the clock every five minutes or so. It was one of those things that she had yet to perfect.<p>

"Are you supposed to go somewhere else , Sakuno-chan? Because you can go if you want," Ichiro offered. "We're almost done anyway. Just needed to arrange a few papers."

Sakuno wanted to take him on his offer. God knew how tempted she was to simply leave and run off towards the tennis courts. It took much of her self-control not to do it. That and her nagging feeling of guilt.

She shook her head. "No, I have no other plans today."

She wondered how Ryoma was doing right then.

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><p>If there was one sure way to annoy Ryoma, that was to tell him that his dating habits resembled his dad's—or Ryoga's. They were not the same at all. Ryoga would change his dates as often as he would change his clothes. Ryoma on the other hand, had gone out with five girls in a span of a year. Big difference as far as he was concerned.<p>

"I'm not like either of you," he declared one time, to which Ryoga had rebut by saying, "Yeah right, and I'm a poor, ugly turd with no sex appeal whatsoever."

Ryoma smirked, throwing Ryoga a mocking glance. "Well,aren't you?"

Ryoga shrugged nonchalantly."I don't know, Chibisuke. Why don't you ask all the lovely ladies begging me to go out with them?"

"Your modesty never fails to amaze me."

"And I should the say thing for your stupidity, dear brother."

Ryoma's eyes narrowed. Naturally, he did not appreciate any jab on his intelligence "And care to tell me how I'm being stupid?"

The older boy smiled. "Because you keep on going for substitutes when you could have gone for the original."

Ryoma cleared his throat. "I don't know what you mean…"

"Would you like me to elaborate?" Before Ryoma could say 'not really', Ryoga raised a hand and started. "You've gone out with five people this year. All five have long auburn hair which they like to tie in twin braids. Obviously, there is a pattern…."

"Was there?" Ryoma shrugged. "I did not notice."

Ryoga rolled his eyes. "_Right_."

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><p>When Sakuno turned 16, she experienced getting dumped for the first time. A guilt-ridden Ichiro confessed about liking someone else, about using her to forget this other girl who never acknowledged his existence.<p>

"I'm sorry. It's not you. It's me."

If only she weren't getting her heart broken, Sakuno would have laughed at the irony.

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><p>"Hey, did you hear what happened?"<p>

Ryoma didn't intend to listen. School gossip, after all, was never one of his interests. He didn't want them nor did he ever seek them. To him, they were nothing but a complete waste of time.

"What?"

So he tried not to focus on their conversation.

"Sakuno-chan and Ichiro-kun broke up!"

"Seriously? Too bad. They were so cute together.

"Yeah. Why did they break up anyway?"

"Well, here's what I've heard…."

Donning an expression of boredom, Ryoma leaned forward on his desk and rested his chin on the palm of his hand. Anyone who had seen him would think that he had other things on his mind. But he was listening to the conversation around him with complete interest. He didn't mean to. Swear to god, he didn't. But he ended up doing so anyway. Not that he had a choice. His classmates were talking so loudly, he couldn't block their voices even if he wished to. Not that he wished to. For once, some school gossip actually ended up being relevant.

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><p>"Wait…what? You broke up with Chiaki-chan? Why?" Ryoga exclaimed, throwing Ryoma an incredulous glance. "Dude, she was hot!"<p>

Ryoma shrugged. "It wasn't working out anymore."

"That's what you said the last time too."

"Because it really isn't working out. What else should I say?" Ryoma deadpanned.

Ryoga eyed him suspiciously. "Chibisuke, are you sure that this sudden decision has got nothing to do with the knowledge that a certain pigtailed girl we know is now back on the market again?"

"Oh lord here we go again," Ryoma sighed. "How many times do you want me to say that I don't like Ryuuzaki before you start believing it?"

"I'm never going to believe it because I know you like her."

"I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't."

"Fine!" Ryoga cried out. "So can I date her then?"

Ryoma glared. "Fuck off." And he hurled a pillow towards Ryoga's face.

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><p>By chance, they saw each other by their shoe lockers again.<p>

"Hey."

"Hi."

And the encounter was no less awkward than the other times they met. Sakuno wondered if they would ever go back to the time when they were actually behaving as friends would. She missed those days.

Ryoma stared at her, looking a bit conflicted. He seemed like he wanted to say something; he just didn't know how to start. Finally, he managed to blurt out, "So, how are you?"

Sakuno blinked. "Eh?"

The black-haired boy ran his fingers through his hair. "I heard…"

"Oh." She gave a small smile. "I'm fine."

Ryoma nodded. "That's good."

Silence.

"Um… I better go ahead. Tomo-chan's probably waiting for me." She bowed. " I'll see you around." She turned to leave,but he called out to her before she could take a step away.

"Wait."

She gave him a curious glance.

"Well, I'm going that way too," he stated casually. "Why don't we walk together? If you don't mind, that is."

To say that Sakuno was surprised by his offer would be an understatement. But it would be a total lie if she claimed she wasn't pleased by it.

"Not at all."

Ryoma came up beside her and together they walked down the hallway, stealing glances at each other every minute or so.

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><p>Something was up with Ryoma that he was not telling. Ryoga was sure of this the moment Ryoma barged into their bedroom and caught him red-handed, eating his last box of Pocket Pancakes. Normally, Ryoma would be upset by this and then he would rant about Ryoga's parasitic tendencies and inability to buy his own food. But today was different from all other days and Ryoga wondered why.<p>

"What's up with you?"

Ryoma shrugged. "Nothing."

"You're in a weirdly good mood."

"Am I not allowed to have a good day?"

And Ryoma went on to whistle a happy tune. Ryoga was certain he just entered the Twilight Zone.

**FIN**

Thanks for reading.


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